This is the matter before the Supreme Court involving prayer before board meetings in the town of Greece, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester. The First Amendment's free exercise and establishment clauses provide guidance. They act like bumpers on a bowling alley.

On one side, free exercise means everyone should be free to believe what they want about God. On the other, the establishment clause means that government should not establish a state religion or show religious preference. The town leadership has maintained this balance in allowing prayer.

Discontinuing prayer in response to legal threats is an attempt to create an America free from religion. This is not a provision in any of our founding documents or laws. To prohibit prayer undermines the freedom of religion that our laws were designed to protect.

The overwhelming majority of the town's residents believe in God. Shouldn't they have the freedom to have that expressed? Prayers led by people of faith occur nationally in both houses of Congress as well as in inaugural ceremonies.

Why? Our nation was profoundly influenced by Judeo-Christian beliefs, though not all Founders were Christians. They shaped our country while holding different views on God, yet prayed regularly at meetings, acknowledging the creator who grants us "inalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence. This has continued, explaining why we still see prayer in these venues today.

Religion has also been expressed in the fabric of our country — in symbols and slogans displayed in government and public environments referencing The Ten Commandments, God, Moses and the like. Even our money says, "In God we trust."

But this has been under assault recently because some people really demand freedom from religion. The endgame appears to be the removal of God from the public arena altogether. But that's not what America has ever promised, nor is it consistent with our history. Freedom of religion allows for prayers to take place before town meetings, and it should represent the fabric of that particular religious community.

The town board doesn't agree with all my beliefs or those of others who've prayed. The same could be said among the clergy who've prayed. But that's the beauty of plurality without the establishment of religion; it can handle it all. And so should "we the people."

Vince DiPaola is the senior pastor at Lakeshore Community Church in Rochester, N.Y.